You will also need a 24-hole mini muffin tin.
1 Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6 and use a pastry brush to brush a 24-hole mini muffin tin with oil.
2 Lay the 6 filo sheets on top of each other on the worktop and cut them into 16 squares. Brush each square with oil or butter and lay it in the muffin tin until each hole has 4 layers of filo. Push the filo down into the hole to form a little cup.
3 Bake the filo cups for 10–12 minutes until golden brown and crisp.
4 Place the chilli in a small saucepan, add the honey and lime juice, and stir briefly. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for a few minutes, then add the mango to the pan along with the cooked prawns and soy sauce. Cook for a further 5 minutes, making sure the prawns are heated through and well coated in the glaze. Remove from the heat, season well, then spoon into the filo cups just before serving. The cups can be served hot or cold.
Honey scones with rhubarb compote
While visiting Scotland and Northern Ireland, I found that the humble scone is quite the centre of attention. Our simple jam-and-cream offering, with the occasional raisin thrown in, doesn’t quite cut it compared with the likes of treacle, cinnamon or cherry scones. This is a simple scone with a bit of a makeover: glazed with sticky honey and generously smothered in clotted cream and tart rhubarb compote.
MAKES ABOUT 9 SCONES
PREP TIME: 30 MINS
COOKING TIME: 12–15 MINS
RHUBARB COMPOTE
200g rhubarb, trimmed and cut into small pieces
50g caster sugar
100ml orange juice
HONEY SCONES
300g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
75g cold butter, cubed
25g caster sugar
2 tbsp runny honey, plus extra for glazing
125ml whole milk
Clotted cream, to serve
You will also need a 6cm-round pastry cutter.
1 Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6 and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
2 Place the rhubarb in a saucepan with the sugar and orange juice. Simmer over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rhubarb pieces have completely broken down and the mixture is thick and sticky. Spoon into a small jar or ramekin and leave to cool.
3 To make the scones, place the flour in a large bowl and add the cubes of butter. Quickly rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre.
4 Pour the honey into the centre of the well, then gradually add the milk, stirring it into the mixture using a round-ended knife. A soft, rough dough will form. Tip the dough out on to a lightly floured worktop and knead very briefly to smooth out the dough. Over-handling the dough will make your scones tough and flat, so knead as little as possible.
5 Gently roll the dough out to a thickness of around 3cm. Cut into rounds using a 6cm pastry cutter, cutting straight down and not twisting, as twisting prevents the scones from rising properly. Very gently re-roll the remaining dough, taking care not to handle it too much, and punch out more scones – you should get 9 in total. Arrange the scones on the lined baking tray and brush the tops with a little extra honey.
6 Bake for 12–15 minutes or until risen and golden brown. Serve warm from the oven, split in half, with big dollops of clotted cream and rhubarb compote.
One of the things I love most about summer is biting into ripe, juicy peaches that drip down your chin in an undignified manner. Adding fruit purée to sponges locks in moisture, which makes for a delicious soft sponge, but if you prefer you can leave the peaches in small chunks for a different texture. You can use fresh or tinned peaches to make these, but fresh will have a superior flavour.
MAKES 18 CUPCAKES
PREP TIME: 20 MINS PLUS COOLING
COOKING TIME: 20–25 MINS
CUPCAKES
200g peeled, halved and stoned peaches (fresh or from a tin)
125g butter, softened
200g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
TOPPING
300ml double cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
1 ripe peach, halved, stoned and cut into 18 slices, to decorate
You will also need 2 × 12-hole muffin tins and 18 paper muffin cases.
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4 and line the muffin tins with 18 muffin cases.
2 Cut the peaches into chunks and place them in a food processor or a stick blender with a processor attachment. Purée until smooth.
3 Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl using an electric hand-held whisk or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until really pale and fluffy – this is what will make the sponge light.
4 Add the vanilla extract to the butter and sugar mix then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition and scraping the mixture down from the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Don’t worry if the mixture looks curdled at this point – it should blend together after the flour is added.
5 Combine the flour and baking powder in a small bowl. With the whisk or mixer on low speed, add half the flour mixture, followed by all the peach purée, then the remaining flour, mixing well between each addition until the mixture is smooth. It will form a very thick batter.
6 Divide the mixture evenly among the cases and bake for 20–25 minutes. The cakes should be springy to the touch and a metal skewer inserted into the centre of one of the cakes should come out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
7 While the cakes are cooling, make the topping. Whisk the cream and icing sugar together in a bowl until the mixture just holds its shape when you lift the whisk. If the cream is too stiff it won’t spread smoothly.
8 When the cakes are at room temperature, decorate them with the cream topping using a palette knife. Put a tablespoon-sized dollop on the top of each cupcake, then smooth it down into the edges to form a cone shape. Use the rounded end of the spatula to create a swirl at the top. Decorate with a slice of fresh peach and keep chilled until ready to serve.